


Unstuck Heart

by slinden



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Anal Sex, Dark Pilot - Freeform, First Love, First Time, Gift Fic, M/M, Old Flames Can't Hold a Candle to You, Sick Dog but he's okay, Surprise Grey Cameo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-22
Updated: 2020-07-22
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:06:47
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,371
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25443625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/slinden/pseuds/slinden
Summary: Ben Solo's dog is sick. At the vet, he gets a surprise that rocks him back to falling in love when he was a teenager. Now, he's forced to trust the same man who had broken his heart to take care of his pet.An early birthday gift for idrilhadhafang.
Relationships: Poe Dameron/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 3
Kudos: 17





	Unstuck Heart

**Author's Note:**

  * For [idrilhadhafang](https://archiveofourown.org/users/idrilhadhafang/gifts).



> A very happy (early) birthday to my friend idrilhadhafang. Thank you for listening to all of my whinings. Thank you for giving me a space to vent. Thank you for being a great friend and encouraging me to keep creating even when it's hard. Thank you for being a talented and wonderful human being. This is for you - thank you for giving me an excuse to take a break from the immense weight of Storm King! Big hugs and much love to you!

"He's just been throwing up all of the time," Ben said, setting his face in a frown as the veterinary assistant looked over the counter at Chewie. "That's what my parents said. And they hadn't noticed he'd lost weight so I…"

"Yeah, I get it," the other man said with a quick but aggravating smirk. "No one notices something is wrong with their pet until someone else points it out. How old is he?"

Sighing, Ben looked down at his dog. "Thirteen. And I told them they needed to come to the vet more often."

"Yeah, that would probably be a good idea." The assistant nodded. "Has he been here before?"

He narrowed his eyes. "I wouldn't have come here if we _hadn't_ been here before."

The assistant clicked his tongue, setting even more agitation in his chest. Ben had come to visit Han and Leia after working almost an entire month straight. The law firm was going to try to burn him out within the first year and he'd be damned if he'd back down from the challenge. This was what he wanted in life and if Snoke wanted him to work harder, he was going to do it.

But that didn't mean his dog had to suffer.

Coming home earlier that morning and having Chewie puke at his feet was enough to make him almost chip a tooth when he saw how bad the poor boy looked.

So now, early on a Saturday, he was getting chided because his parents couldn't see what was so clear to him. The dog was sick and he had to drop his bags and take him directly to the vet.

Still, the blue-eyed man behind the counter was judging him for their mistake. "We aren't the same clinic. There's a new vet now. I was just wondering if he'd been here since then. But maybe you don't know that."

"Does that matter? Didn't you take over the old clients?" He didn't want to admit that he'd just taken the dog to the same place that he remembered going to as a teenager without asking questions. "That's what you _should_ have done. If you looked at what I've written on the form you made me fill out…"

The assistant's mouth was a firm line as he slid the form over to study it, glaring at him the entire time as his fingers languidly moved the paper. "Okay, let me look."

He shifted his weight, glad there was no one else there in the warm and light vet clinic if he had to hit the man. Food and toys lined the walls, advertising how much better it was to buy things from the vet for a higher mark-up than from the pet store down the road. It should be easier to be inside the place, but he didn't feel settled. Chewie had needed help and he'd been forced to sit and stare at the closed sign until it was mercifully turned to open. He'd waited in the car for fifteen minutes, petting Chewie and swearing at the locked door. It would have been an extra hour to drive to the university clinic and they had even later in-take times. This was his only option. And this was their home clinic so why should he need to go out of his way to get help?

His thoughts shifted to focus on the other man's hands, flipping through the files behind the counter. Click, click, flip, flip. He wanted to drum his fingernails on the counter, like he was waiting for a file from a temp, but he held back. He wasn't in a suit. He was in a t-shirt and jeans. He needed this dark-haired idiot to do his job and he couldn't make him do it faster just because he was looming over him.

"Yes, here we have it. Solo? So this is Chewie? Cool name. I'll go talk to the vet and he'll be with you soon." He pulled up the file and flipped through it. "Just have a seat with him. There's coffee if you want it." He gestured lightly at the small machine tucked in between the set of four chairs in the waiting room. "It totally sucks but at least it's free."

Ben just stared at him as he disappeared into the back room, behind a swinging door.

And he waited. And waited, just watching the door blur in his eyes.

Finally, he knelt to check on the dog. Chewie hadn't cried or whined on the ride over. Instead, he had just tucked his head in his lap and panted. "How are you doing, buddy?"

Chewie, the old cockapoo, licked his face. Ben rubbed his fur, breathing him in. His parents still got him groomed; there were no knots in the fur. Why hadn't they seen how much he'd changed since he'd last seen him? Ben could almost feel his ribs when he ran his hand down his body. Chewie had been there since he was twelve and he hoped that he still had a few years left with him. Old memories of long walks made him nearly slip into the familiar grief that had stuck with him for far too long. Because, until he was fifteen, there was always someone else on those treks.

The back-room door swung open and he kept his eyes on his dog so he wouldn't have to look up to see the irritating assistant again.

But a familiar voice made him jolt instead.

"Hey, Chewie."

He nearly fell on his ass when he looked up.

"Hey, Ben."

Poe Dameron. He hadn't seen him since high school. He flashed back to arriving at the clinic and seeing his name on the door and winced; it had been there but he had blocked it out. With what happened the last time they'd been face to face had probably made him not register the melancholy sight. It was part of the white noise in his mind over the last ten years as he fought to keep the hurt in his stupid heart at bay.

"Hey." He finally stood up, pressing hard on his thighs as he rose to his feet. Poe had only gotten more handsome, growing into his features. But there was still the same curl to his hair. The same smirk on his tanned face. If anything, Ben had gotten taller so he could at least have that, other than just becoming more awkward as he got bigger. Looking down at the other man, he licked his lips. "I didn't know you worked here."

Poe tilted his head, shooting him a grin that made him forget every year of law school with one brilliant look. "How would you know? I just took over last month. Dr. Ackbar retired and we sold dad's house so, here I am."

He had a million questions. But all of them died as his brain hazed over. "Okay."

Poe's face shifted into an expression that made Ben flash to a heated moment in his parents' basement. Lips and hands, teeth and tongues. Promises of forever that had melted into nothing.

When the other man broke the gaze to squat down to pet his dog, Ben bit his lip hard.

"So what's wrong with this old boy? Grey said he's been throwing up? Was there any blood?" Poe kept his eyes on Chewie and Ben was quietly thankful on all counts. A blush had spread across his face and he was driving his nails into his palm, trying to make it go away.

"I asked," he was about to say mom and dad but swallowed it down, "Han and Leia and they said there wasn't. But it's mostly food. Not that much fluid."

Poe looked up and smiled and Ben felt his heart stop. "Well, that's a good sign. If it was just fluid then we'd be having a different conversation right now. Especially if there's blood in it. Come on, let's get him weighed and checked out. He looks so much older than the last time I saw him."

"So do you," Ben blurted out.

Poe chuckled at him. "I got older. You just got taller. Come on."

The clinic still looked the same from when he'd been there as a teenager, before college and law school. But it was Poe's now. Some of the pictures had changed. They were brighter somehow; they looked friendlier. The dog and cat age charts could almost hold his focus rather than the man in the white vet coat and green scrubs. He didn't dare to get closer, afraid that he'd still smell the same.

The clean and white hall led to the scale set up on the floor. But Poe had to turn to raise his eyebrows at him. "Can I take him? To get him on the scale."

"Um, yeah." He shoved Chewie's leash in Poe's direction.

Thankfully, but then again maybe not, Poe gripped a length far from where Ben's grip was. His hands looked the same: clean nails, slim wrists. Ben wondered if they were still as soft.

"Thanks." The other man smiled at him and moved to look at the dog.

He watched Poe lead Chewie up on the scale, studying how he moved. He'd really grown up but was still the same. Every heartbeat told Ben that Poe was the same. And he'd actually done it. All of the times as kids when they were taking care of hurt birds or squirrels, watching Poe figure out how to help them or who to call, hadn't just been Poe's natural caring heart. Poe had found a way to follow that dream. Ben had just done the thing that would get him the most respect and money. He swallowed down the thought as he watched Poe smiling down at Chewie like the past had never happened.

"So, you're still coming into town?" Poe asked, writing down numbers form the scale on the clipboard in his hands. "And he's only a little underweight compared to what his chart says from a year ago. We can go to the exam room and I can take some levels so we can see what the problem is."

Swallowing, Ben watched Poe take Chewie further down the hall to a brightly lit examination room. Everything was clean and fresh but Ben was still stuck in memories of grass on summer evenings. Standing in the doorway, he didn't offer to help Poe pick the dog up and put him on the silver table. There had been so many days of walking the dog and talking about the future. And then Poe graduated and Ben had been left behind.

"I've been working a lot," he spit out, finally stepping closer. "I'm here once a month, if I get a weekend off. I haven't had that in a while."

"Oh yeah, I get that," Poe said as he checked Chewie's teeth, stopping to smell his breath. "I was in this clinic up north after I finished school and then I was working nights for what felt like forever all over the state, just filling in when they needed me. My days off were just me on the couch, trying to catch up on sleep and eating cheap take out. It was such a relief to get my practice at last."

Ben dared to come closer again, watching the other man check his dog's heartbeat, before continuing the physical exam. Poe's hands pressed on the dog's sides and then down his body to his legs and paws. Ben was transfixed and had to force himself out of his head.

"But you did it." Ben heard his own voice but was only watching Poe as he spoke.

Poe turned and quirked an eyebrow. "Did what?"

"You're a vet."

Ben got another grin that made him want to sit down.

Shrugging, Poe moved to the cupboard on the wall. "Yeah. Yeah, I guess I did. What are you up to now?" He started rifling through it, just like he'd done when they were younger, looking for candy or chips on a night they were left alone.

"I'm a lawyer. Corporate." His shoulders fell. This wasn't at all what they used to dream about when they were kids but it was what he ended up with. "I have an apartment in the city. It pays well."

Poe paused, leaning against the counter as he fixed the syringe. He pulled on new plastic gloves and licked his lips. "I thought you were going to do writing. I…I kept checking for your name, you know? Waiting to see when you'd be published."

A low flush spread down from his ears to his cheeks. Too many memories of sending emails of his random stories and poetry burnt through his mind. Too many evenings of showing Poe pages of his scribbles flashed at the same time: all of the times that their hands would brush before Poe would say what he had just read was fantastic, earning him an evening of deep kisses.

"Yeah, I didn't do that." It almost felt embarrassing to think about, despite having the old ache awaken at the same time. Now that his words were harshly parsed daily for facts and scrutinized for every detail, he hated thinking about sitting at his computer to write just for fun. "It didn't work out."

Poe sighed, offering him sympathetic eyes. "That's too bad. I…I still read some of the things you sent me. When I'm…when I'm, yeah, nostalgic."

How dare he say that? How dare he say that after what happened? Ben clenched his fists even as Poe turned to the dog on the table. He was about to snap at him, calling him out for what he did as Poe seemed to ignore how he was starting to rise to his full height.

"Come help hold him for me so I can do a blood test." Poe stopped him dead with a slight glare. "Or do you not want me to find out what's wrong with your dog?"

"Fine." Ben took two steps forward, gently guiding Chewie to still on the examination table. "He doesn't bite."

Poe raised his eyebrows, looking for a vein under the dog's fur. "It just looked like you were about to bite."

Ben held the dog and his tongue, counting down from twenty. That's what his therapist had taught him to do. He had to cling to it.

With each second, with each ounce of blood, he saw their last moment together. The end of summer when Poe was leaving for college, packing up his car, shouldn't have been the last time he'd seen him. Ben still had too much of high school left. But if Poe had listened he could have left with him.

But that didn't happen.

Instead, it turned into an empty autumn of phone calls and broken promises. And then the phone calls got more infrequent and there were no more promises. Before he knew it, a year went by and his broken heart only swallowed him up.

He was staring blankly at the needle as Poe gently withdrew it from Chewie's skin. Ben wanted to be angry, to let the pain of that final moment build into pure rage, but he still had to watch Poe take care of his dog with gentle and careful motions. He patted down the spot with cotton, stopping the light bleeding with a long dab, before he gave Chewie a soft pet, telling him he'd done a good job. He even stopped to kiss his forehead, like he'd always done when they were younger. Chewie hadn't even whined once. He still trusted him; why couldn't Ben?

"I'm," Poe started before he paused to exhale. "I'm going to go run this. It will take about fifteen minutes. When I get back, maybe we can talk?"

Ben frowned. "About the blood test?"

Again, Poe smirked. "Maybe that. Maybe about what's on your mind. It's up to you. Just hang out here. I'll be right back."

Poe left him standing there in the exam room just like he'd left him ten years ago in the driveway.

If Chewie wasn't there and wasn't sick, he'd drop down to the ground and scream.

He hadn't even bothered to move on with his heart since high school. Ben had simply put his head down and studied, ignoring his writing because it felt like garbage after his heart had gone away. When Poe left, his confidence had died with that hot and fast relationship. Poe had promised he'd come back, and they'd have weekends together. But then it turned out he wasn't just at the community college. He'd won some big scholarship and moved to the other coast, far away. Ben had been happy at first; he'd been so proud of him when he had initially heard it. He knew that Poe's dad didn't have as much money as his parents. He remembered when they were small and Poe's mom had passed away from cancer and all of the sleepovers they'd had the year before she died. It had been perfect in the beginning that Poe could do what he'd dreamed about.

All of it folded back into how it had been at the start of their friendship blossoming from one thing to another for only a few cherished months.

Because those sleepovers had changed as they started getting older. As Poe started getting more handsome and Ben began being unable to resist him, things shifted. After jumping on the trampoline in Ben's backyard on one summer evening when he was fourteen, Poe gently leaned over and kissed him. The older boy had been seventeen but had asked him first, making sure it was right. And it was everything Ben had wanted: his first kiss with his first crush, the boy he'd fallen in love with only a year earlier when he realized what love could be.

That year had burnt hard into his mind and was extinguished by Poe driving away and never looking back.

A light rap on the door knocked him from petting Chewie, hearing him pant happily for the first time since he'd been home.

"So, Ben, can you take a look at this with me? I can tell you what it means." Poe held up the blood test results on a slim piece of flimsy paper. It was a mess of numbers and letters in three lines and Ben had to squint to try to understand them. "Yeah, so most of them are normal, but these two here? Those two are totally wonked. It could be kidneys or pancreas, but he needs fluids. And we need to observe him overnight. Maybe two nights to see if what we give him has an effect. It could be disease, or it could just be an infection. But this is just me giving it to you straight. It looks serious but I don't think he's…"

Ben finally turned to see how close the other man was. "Is he going to die?"

A slow hand rested on his shoulder like they were still friends. "It doesn't look that bad. I've seen worse. I'll, um." Poe paused, the warm hand pulling away. "I am going to go and start the paperwork. You can talk to him for a bit and when you're ready, bring him out and we can say goodbye. But I promise that I'm going to take care of him."

Say goodbye. Again.

Ben's head was swimming over everything. Poe was saying goodbye again. Chewie could die. He wasn't ready to walk out of there.

He kept his hand on the dog. "Okay."

Poe walked out of the room and Ben bit the inside of his mouth hard. "Hey, buddy, you need to stay here. But you know…you know Poe. Do you remember him? He will take care of you. He's going to make you feel better. He promises that you'll be okay."

Just like he promised they'd see one another again. Okay.

They were older now. They both had real jobs. They weren't just children falling in love. If Poe had ever loved him back, he thought darkly. Ben had an apartment. He had his job. He had the future ahead of him. Did he really need the boy who'd stolen his heart when he was too young to realize how easily it could be crushed?

Taking a deep breath, he lifted Chewie back to the floor. He stopped to lap at a bowl of water in the corner. Of course Poe would have things everywhere for the animals at the clinic to feel comfortable.

Guiding his dog down the hall, he dipped his head at the vet assistant and sought out Poe instead.

He was standing behind the front desk and Ben had to sigh when his eyes traced his back. "He's had some water. Is that okay?"

Poe turned. "Of course. We're going to give him some fluids overnight but it will be okay, Ben. I've looked at his other charts and it could just be an infection. I'm kind of good at my job and I'm not…I'm not stupid."

Ben slowly handed him the leash, letting their hands brush this time. "I know you're not stupid." _You broke my heart, but I trust you._

"Look I will," Poe said, then swallowed before glancing down at the clipboard. "I will call you. Do you want me to call the number on file or this one?"

He had filled out the form with his cellphone, the new one from work. The old one that Poe decided he didn't want to use wasn't his anymore. Okay. "The one there. I'm here for the weekend."

Ben watched Poe lick his lips. "Okay. Yeah. I'll call you tomorrow. Um." Poe turned and extended his hand. "It was good to see you again."

After being frozen for a moment, Ben finally shook the offered hand in return. "Yeah."

He left the vet clinic without the dog but his mind wouldn't stop whirling.

But he had to yell at his parents. That was the first thing he needed to do when he got home.

"I had to leave Chewie there," Ben shouted when he got into the house again. "I shouldn't need to do everything around here!"

He didn't even wait for a reply.

Ben just went upstairs and slammed his door shut.

And the next thing he did was pull down the box at the top of the closet that he'd left there since he'd moved out.

All of the notes. All of the stories he'd given to Poe that had his goofy handwriting on each printed page. _I love it! Keep going!_ He had just put out small stories about a boy lost in the woods who never was able to find his way out and Poe loved it.

He only came downstairs to listen to Han and Leia's empty apologies over dinner before going back up to his room.

The entire night was spent staring at his phone.

And he had finally been able to ignore the messages from work and fall asleep without the familiar warmth at the end of his bed.

-=-

His phone was ringing and he answered it, rolling over in bed without thinking of who it would be.

"Hey, Ben, it's me. I have good news."

The voice and the tone woke him up entirely. "What is it?"

"Yeah, okay, here's the story. It's a minor kidney infection. We got him on fluids and we have him on meds. I got in this morning and it's like he was when we were kids so he's already feeling better. He's so happy and full of energy. No puking. I'm taking him for a walk right now. Do you want to talk to him?" The smile in Poe's voice made it hard to say no. He managed a small grunt that meant yes. And Poe, like always, understood. "Yeah, okay, cool. Here he is."

Managing to breathe out, Ben heard Chewie's pants and tried to figure out his words. "Hey, buddy. Sounds like you're coming home soon. Just tell Poe that…that I love him. Okay?"

He still heard panting and exhaled. "Good boy. See you soon."

The phone rustled and he sucked in what he just said. "Everything good?"

"Yes. When can he come home?" Ben was back to how he should be. The dog could know. But the man couldn't.

"He needs a bit more time but not that much. I need another check on his levels. You get that? So this evening? I will give you a call then?" Poe sounded too happy, like he was clearly thinking about someone else.

It made Ben long for sleep, to chase away the dreams he'd just had of him. "Yes. Fine. Call me later."

He killed the call and stretched out, clutching at the empty side of his bed.

He went on to ignore his mother's voice, telling him it was time for breakfast until he got too hungry to only be in bed.

And he dared to ask his parents about how much they knew about Poe Dameron being back in town.

-=-

Poe was shifting his weight and rubbing his forehead, making Ben nervous as he showed him the print out of the instructions and the prescription. "Yeah, you can get this from the pharmacy tomorrow and he should be on this type of food if he isn't on it already. It's for older dogs."

"I think he is." Ben was still watching his hands, studying the tips of his fingers. "I can double-check, unless you want me to buy some of the over-priced shit you have here."

Quirking another grin, losing the nervousness from a second ago, Poe shrugged. The look on Poe's face could have silenced every doubt in his heart if he hadn't built up a wall against him. Even though it was crumbling, Ben wanted to fight it. "Nah, it's okay. But I have…Ben, I have another question."

Ben was already picking up the prescription to put in his pocket. Chewie's leash was in his hand and the handsome boy was already happily panting in a dog bed in the corner. At least the dog wasn't in a rush to go. But Ben didn't want to feel dread so late in the day in the empty, closed vet clinic. He wanted to run from the place and never look back. "What?"

He was expecting him to say something horrible. About why Ben had been too immature for him. And how he hadn't grown up to be what he wanted. And how his parents had failed to take care of the dog they'd had when they were together.

"Come here." Poe's words sounded like they had come from a dream as he pulled him into a hug.

Ben was too stunned to wrap his arms around the other man as he wanted to. He was warm and firm, filling up all of his senses. He was rocked back to being fifteen and never wanting to let him go.

"I missed you," Poe whispered. "I missed you so much. Did you miss me?"

He was losing the war against his feelings and slowly returned the embrace, enveloping him in his arms for the first time in a decade. "I missed you every day. Why…why did you stop caring about me?"

Poe pulled back, shaking his head. "I never did. But we…I got scared, Ben. Things got all messed up in my head with what you were doing to me. Things were going too fast. I wanted you so much. And I was scared about how much I felt for you. You were too young and I didn't want you to get stuck with me so early."

Stepping away, Ben felt the fleeting warmth of being close to him vanish, replaced by another pulsing emotion. "So you made the decision for me? About what I could and couldn't _feel_? I asked my parents and they said that you _did_ come home and you just didn't want to see me. How could you do that to me?"

He watched Poe blink away tears and tried to hate him at that moment. "Ben, we…we were just too young. We grew up together and I was worried that I was making you feel those things for me. I know it was stupid. I know that it hurt you. I wanted to go further with you and it wasn't right. I was an adult when I left and you were still a teenager. I knew how I felt about you but you…"

"Stop putting thoughts in my head!" Ben slammed his fist on the counter. "I loved you. I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you. I know I was young but I've spent the last ten years loving you. _That_ didn't change!"

Poe dropped his chin, looking at his shoes. "It I…I made a mistake. It was the biggest mistake of my life and I've regretted it. I…I totally get it if you never want to talk to me again but I'm…yeah, you should hate me. I deserve it. But I never stopped loving you." He glanced up and Ben wanted to reach out and dry his tears but held back. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry I did that to you. You deserve to hate me as much as I hate myself for staying away from you. I broke my own heart when I broke yours."

Ben swallowed. He desperately searched for hate within him. He scratched at every hurt in his heart, trying to remember every desperate night he'd spent crying over the long years. All of the days he'd spent feeling hollow and lost had been so real at the time. Now, with Poe standing there, he could almost not remember them. And he knew how to make them vanish forever.

He surged forward and gripped Poe close, pressing their lips together in a desperate kiss. His lips were met with equal passion and the mouth he could never forget erased the ache of the years. Pouring himself into the kiss, Ben's arms tightened around Poe's slight body as heat surged through him. He'd missed him. He loved him. He could never hate him. He was there now and this was real. The last decade was scorched to ash by the kiss he never wanted to end.

He backed Poe against the counter, lunging against him. Poe broke the kiss to hiss at the sensation of his growing hardness pressed against his crotch. Ben took the chance to press his lips up his neck, nipping at his ear after leaving a trail of hot kisses against the soft and warm skin. Poe's pulse was hammering against his mouth and Ben knew his own heart was pounding just as fast. "I never stopped loving you. And I'm not a teenager now."

Poe took a shaky breath as Ben's hands landed on his hips. Poe's eyes darkened as he met his gaze. "I know…I know how I can make it up to you."

"Do you?" Ben felt like his heart was about to fly out of his chest when Poe reached for his belt. "Poe, if we do this…"

"There's no way I'm letting you go this time. There's no way I'm leaving you ever again. I promise. I never want to let you go. I'm so sorry for ever hurting you." Poe jutted out his chin, gripping at his belt buckle. "Let me take all of the pain away, Ben."

Closing his eyes, Ben rested his forehead against the other man's. "I love you so much. I've never…I've never been with anyone. I tried to date but all I could think of was you."

He heard Poe sigh and the hands on his waist shifted to run up his chest. "Me too. All I could see was the hurt in your eyes when I drove away. I'm never going to hurt you like that again. I swear."

Leaning back, Ben met the soft brown eyes of the only man he'd ever loved. The words he wanted to say died on his lips as Poe reached for his shirt. Ben felt himself shiver as Poe started undressing him, lifting the cloth until Ben had to pull it off completely. Poe was still smiling as he ran his hands up Ben's firm chest and stomach, touches that were gentle but still confident.

Ben knew the older man was just going to start talking again and quickly leaned down for another kiss, silencing him. With fast hands, he pulled off Poe's shirt, the green scrubs hitting the clinic floor. He kissed down his neck, caressing his chest. He was stronger too. They weren't skinny kids anymore, making out on the trampoline.

He helped Poe shimmy out of the loose pants and his jeans joined them on the floor. Naked, he nudged his way between Poe's legs, running his hands along the muscular thighs. His chest, his stomach, his legs…they'd never been this close before. He shuddered as their erections brushed together. Knowing what was going to happen had him harder than he'd ever been before.

"You're still so beautiful," Ben whispered. "I've always wanted this."

"Me too, Ben." Poe was rubbing small circles on the back of his neck, sending shivers across his skin. Slowly, he shifted, wrapping his legs around him to pull Ben even closer. "I'm so sorry I thought you were too young."

Arching against him, Ben shuddered as he felt all of Poe. And the other man could feel him too. This was so perfect. Gripping the smaller man's ass, he lowly moaned as his senses were put into overdrive. "It doesn't matter now. We're…we're together now."

Poe was grinning as he stretched out a hand to snatch something off of the counter. "Here. Let me…"

And then Poe was stroking a cool gel along the length of his cock, making him shudder again. He was going to come even before he was inside of him. "What is that?"

Poe's legs tightened around him. "I'll tell you later. But it's safe. And I want you. I'm ready."

He'd only seen this in porn, desperately masturbating and imagining himself fucking Poe just like he was about to do. Gently, he gripped Poe's ass, lifting him slightly. He met his eyes as he reached down to start to guide himself inside the beautiful body on the counter.

When he felt himself start to enter the other man, Ben was lost.

Because Poe tossed his head back and shouted his name.

Not able to hold back, Ben thrust hard inside, earning another shout. Then, with pure need, he kissed him deeply as he started fucking him with firm and quick thrusts that had them both desperately shaking with every lust-filled meeting of skin. Poe was so tight and warm that Ben felt like his entire body was on fire. Fuck, he loved him. Fuck, he had missed him. But now he had him and he was never going to let him get away again.

Reaching down to stroke his lover's cock, Ben felt the pressure in his groin build to a point he couldn't stop. He was going to come too quickly but didn't care. If it was this good the first time, there had to be so many more moments like this. He had waited for him and Poe had come back for him. Even if it had taken ten years, none of it mattered now.

He came with a long shout of his lover's name and felt Poe's body spasm with the sensation. Short nails dug into his back and he felt Poe come too, matching his yell with one of his own.

Covered in sweat, he panted, resting his shaking head on the other man's shoulder. "Love you. Love you so much."

"Love you too. Never letting you go again." Poe sagged against him, shaking with residual need.

Somehow, they untangled themselves and managed to clean up. Putting on their clothes, they cuddled behind the counter, still whispering endearments.

Ben hadn't realized he'd fallen asleep until he heard the bells of the clinic door chime as the door rattled open.

He shot up, meeting the confused blue eyes of the vet assistant. "Um. Hey."

"What are you doing here?" Ben was grabbing at Poe, helping to his feet. He saw his own blush reflected on Poe's face.

"I work here? I'm doing night checks?" The interloper cocked his head as he eyed his boss. "Do I get a raise if I don't say anything?"

Leaning against him, Ben heard Poe groan. "Yeah. Yeah, Grey. You do. I can do the night checks. Just…just go home."

"'Kay. You guys have a good night." He winked and turned away, reaching for the door.

Whatever merciful God that was out there watching over them had clearly stepped in and the other man left, although he was obviously laughing at them as he did.

Poe put his head in his hands and swore under his breath. "He's never going to let me live this down," Poe mumbled before shaking his head. He reached for Ben's hand, bringing it to his lips to kiss his knuckle. "I'm sorry about that. And that…and that we just fucked in front of your dog."

The simple touch and apology made Ben smile, a real and true one, embarrassment vanishing in an instant. "It's…it's fine. He sleeps through thunderstorms and my father's snoring so I think he can handle it." Slipping his arms around Poe, Ben sighed, happiness filling his chest with warmth. "Can I buy you dinner now? To make this a real date?"

He got a bright Dameron grin in return. "Of course. Just…we do have to do night checks and we can…we can start working on forever."

The broken heart he'd carried around for far too long was fully healed when Ben bent down to kiss Poe again, sealing the promise.


End file.
